Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump don't agree on much, but Saudi Arabia may be an exception. She has deplored Saudi Arabia's support for 'radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path towards extremism.' He has called the Saudis 'the world's biggest funders of terrorism.'

If the administration is sincere in its desire to hold Saudi Arabia accountable and leverage such sales in ways that encourage it to change its behavior, President Barack Obama should withdraw this sale and suspend delivery on those agreed earlier, rather than continue to reward Riyadh for its actions. Such steps would reinforce the importance of human rights and international law in U.S. arms transfer decisions.

But the initial DC reaction to efforts to stop the deal was: "you can't beat General Dynamics." On August 11, when Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said he would work with a bipartisan coalition to stop the Saudi arms deal, Foreign Policysaid:

Still, stopping the deal is going to be an uphill battle. The main beneficiary of the deal is General Dynamics Land Systems, according to a statement by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The firm is a subsidiary of General Dynamics, a massive defense contractor that wields significant clout on Capitol Hill. That could make it hard for Paul to find the allies he would need in the House and Senate to permanently block the sale.

So, here are four key pieces of evidence that opposing the Saudi arms deal is not futile:

In a filing to regulators on Tuesday, Textron noted that the sale of its "sensor-fuzed weapon," or cluster bomb, requires executive branch and congressional approval. "The current political environment has made it difficult to obtain these approvals," the company said.

4. On August 29, 64 Members of the House sent a bipartisan letter to the Administration urging that the Saudi arms deal be postponed.

National and state petitions directed to Congress in opposition to the Saudi arms deal can be found here.

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Further

Academics are increasingly, ingeniously fighting back against an Orwellian "Professor Watchlist" aimed at exposing "radical" teachers. The list has inspired online trolls to name their own suspects - Albus Dumbledore, Dr. Pepper, Mr. Spock - and a Watchlist Redux to honor not trash targets from Jesus to teachers daring to "think critically about power." Now 100 Notre Dame professors have asked to join the list in solidarity, proclaiming, "We wish to be counted among those you are watching."